Tell tails - where to attach

how many depends on your type of boat but I would only have the ones you need.

position by trial and error works well just stick them on around the area you think and an extra set forward and behind that point. if they fly all the time they are to far back and if the dont fly half the time they are to far forward.

then take off the ones in the wrong place.

the ones in the bottom third are most essential, you steer to them, the ones at half and 3/4 are good in classes where you can adjust things to get them all flowing. but would just be a distraction in a laser.

the 3/4 leach telltale is also usefull to show when you have the right leach tension.

if you put too many on, then they never all fly and you start worring about your rig set up and not which way to go.

Originally posted by getafix don't do what a mate of mine did once, he decided to attach some tell-tales on a saturday night after a few sherbets, remembering his new sail hadn't got any... experiencing a moment of "confusion" he decided that he needed one piece of wool with a small hole in the sail to pass it through in order to get one either side..... doh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not sure if he got the resulting rips repaired or not.... I guess the sailmaker he took it to probably stopped laughing after oh... about 3 hours!

That's how theyre attached to my Fireball jib- put on by P&B so it works with some cloth!

a needle and wool works just fine, remember you have hundreds of holes pushed through your sail along every seam so the cloth can take it, especially as the load your tell tale will put on your sail is not exactly big! The main issues are how you make the hole and getting it in the right place, it's a bit harder to move if you change your mind about where your tell tale should be.

i think the sherberts on the saturday night caused more problems than the method - mind you, they usually do when it comes to sailing